But the real story was outside the courtroom, where the trial's participants engaged in a frenzy of speculation about one question: Will Ms. Brawley appear as a witness on Thursday, after a decade of refusing to testify?

In the yes camp: Stephen C. Jackson, the lawyer who said he would call Ms. Brawley on behalf of his client, C. Vernon Mason, one of the three Brawley advisers fighting the damages phase of the suit. ''I fully expect for her to be available to testify tomorrow,'' he said.

In the no camp: Steven A. Pagones, the plaintiff, who has waged a 10-year battle to prove that the allegation that he assaulted Ms. Brawley was a hoax. ''Why,'' he asked, ''would she travel to New York to commit perjury?''

In the maybe camp: Michael A. Hardy, the lawyer for the Rev. Al Sharpton. ''I don't know if she's coming,'' he said, looking miserable with uncertainty.

The speculation about the young woman who has always been the silent figure at the center of the case began on Tuesday when the judge, S. Barrett Hickman, reversed an earlier decision and said Mr. Jackson could call Ms. Brawley.

But the conjecturing grew fevered today, as Alton H. Maddox Jr., who has been the closest adviser to the Brawley family for many years, did everything but declare that Ms. Brawley would be absent. ''The only thing I can say,'' Mr. Maddox said, ''is, if I said Tawana was coming tomorrow, she would be here. But I'm not saying that.''

One of Mr. Maddox's aides worked his way into a knot of reporters with a wad of bills, asserting that he was willing to take bets that the young woman would be a no-show. Mr. Maddox said, ''Whatever happens tomorrow has nothing to do with Alton Maddox.''

The guessing about Ms. Brawley was far more than a courthouse parlor game. Instead, it showed the pressure that has mounted on the defense since the July 13 verdict by a civil jury in State Supreme Court here declaring that each of the advisers had defamed Mr. Pagones.

Mr. Maddox appeared to be undermining Mr. Mason's strategy in part because of the damage it could do to the defense in the inevitable long aftermath of the case. In the past, the advisers have said Ms. Brawley could not cooperate with prosecutors who were hostile to her. That assertion could be difficult to make if she spurned an invitation from Mr. Mason to testify.

Mr. Mason has made public comments since the jury verdict that seemed to distance him from the other advisers. He has noted that he was only found to have defamed Mr. Pagones once, while Mr. Maddox was found liable on two counts and Mr. Sharpton on seven counts. His lawyer, Mr. Jackson, has said Ms. Brawley would testify that she was assaulted and that she described the attack to her advisers.

Mr. Hardy suggested at the defense table today that a new battle over Ms. Brawley could not be good for any of the defendants.

But Mr. Maddox was the player who was watched most carefully today. Ms. Brawley, now 26, has said in the past that she views Mr. Maddox as something of a permanent lawyer for her even though he was suspended from law practice for refusing to cooperate in an investigation of his handling of the Brawley case.

Mr. Maddox turned 53 this week and a rally in support of him is planned in New York City on Thursday night. In the past, Ms. Brawley has attended some similar events.

Mr. Maddox has been sharply protective of Ms. Brawley over the years, and people who know him say it is unlikely that he would acquiesce in the decision to subject her to new legal entanglements by calling her as a witness on behalf of Mr. Mason.

Mr. Maddox said that he had spoken to Ms. Brawley's stepfather, Ralph King, today. Neither he nor Mr. King had spoken to Ms. Brawley in several days, he said, and neither knew her plans.

But Mr. Maddox stopped short of saying that he doubted Mr. Jackson's statements today that Mr. Jackson had established contact with Ms. Brawley's family and was working out the logistics of her appearance here. ''Maybe Mr. Jackson has a pipeline,'' Mr. Maddox said.

The jurors have not been included in the to-and-fro over Ms. Brawley. Today they heard Mr. Mason testify that he bore no ill will toward Mr. Pagones when he said in 1989 that Mr. Pagones had kidnapped, raped and sodomized Ms. Brawley.

But it seemed likely that the jurors had an inkling of the topic being debated every time they turned their backs. At one point from the bench, Justice Hickman told the lawyers to be ready to continue on with the case on Thursday, ''no matter who comes and who doesn't.''